The Board of Education for school district 428 approved the final adoption of the 2008-2009 budget at Thursday night’s meeting.

One budget difference is the timing of the bond issues, said Andrea Gorla, assistant superintendent of business and finance for the DeKalb School District 428.

The school district sold bonds last fiscal year so there is a large infusion of revenue.

“Last year and this year we have the expenses and that will be for the building of Cortland and the start of the high school building,” Gorla said.

She explained that the state looks at operating funds and, upon seeing a deficit, the district is required to file a deficit budget plan. If the district does not have three times the deficit amount in fund balances, the district has to file a deficit budget plan with the state. Because the district has more than required, they do not have to file.

With the economic crisis, Gorla said the bonds will not be affected and may actually benefit.

Interest rates are low, so it’s a good time to borrow money, but interest earning has been lowered, she said.

Expenditures are not expected to change but revenue can fluctuate in a favorable way, she said.

Dee Coover, DeKalb Public Library director, announced a $20,000 grant the library received to promote reading.

“Less than 50 percent of Americans haven’t read anything in the last year,” Coover said. “That’s just ridiculous.”

The National Endeavor of Arts created the One Community and One Read program, which, through a competitive grant program, gives libraries both money and materials to promote any kind of literature. Last year, the library received $5,000 but this year received the maximum amount. The money is used to distribute books and materials in hopes that people will read the books and pass them on to others to read. This year’s Big Read book is “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

The library is hoping Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” will come to DeKalb.

The board also approved survey services for the Dresser Road property, where the district will construct the new high school. The survey will be performed by CGL at a total cost of $9,146. Two different vendors were considered for the survey but CGL was chosen because they did work in the same property and offered the lowest price.

The board also approved a mini bus lease that will replace older vans used for after school activities.

The leasing will save the school district $120,000, compared to the same amount of events with Laidlaw, Gorla said.

Another issue with using Laidlaw, a school bus company, was availability of bus drivers for after school activites. Laidlaw couldn’t guarantee them, Gorla said.

The mini buses are also safer, said Dan Jones the athletic director at DeKalb High School.

“We found that the vast majority of high schools are moving toward mini buses because they meet federal and state safety regulations,” he said.

Driving a mini bus do not require a CDL license. Staff who have taken training classes will be able to drive.